In Case You Still Don’t Get It: A Word From Richard Pryor and Paul Mooney on The N Word

This is Rich in the film,Live on the Sunset Strip, around 1982, sometime after he combusted from either a suicide attempt or an actual freebasing episode. He had gone to Africa, The Motherland, on vacation, and he had a message for his fans.

I have said before that I loved Richard Pryor as a comic genius. I loved him even when he used The N Word. Why? Because Richard, first and foremost, was a storyteller. He became Mudbone, the sarcastic antithesis of Uncle Remus. He allowed us to reclaim our humanity and allowed us to blow off steam for what bugged and pissed us off most in our lives and relationships. His vocabulary was the vocabulary of frustration, not necessarily just anger, about how to live with what we were given–even to be free. He told us he was crazy, so we weren’t surprised at some of the stuff we heard and read about in the media about him. The story of his life–and his gift for voices, observation and storytelling–is bigger than his rampant use of The N Word. And that’s why I can still listen to his comedy albums or films.

But I don’t allow my enjoyment of Richard Pryor to color my social interactions with others or to define my ethics. It may have been his street, but it wasn’t mine.

The man who helped to make Richard Pryor, comedian Paul Mooney, saw the 2006 Michael Richards controversy as a wake-up call. He swore off using The N Word in his comedy from henceforth.

Bankrate: I interviewed you last year, and we talked about your attitudes toward the N-word. At the time, you said you were fine with it.

Paul Mooney: I was the ambassador for the word. I was married to it. My best friend, Richard Pryor, he was the first one to say, “Don’t say the word.” He was the first comedian and human being to say that to me. He went to Africa, he said he didn’t hear the word, he didn’t see any N-people, and when he got back to America he wasn’t going to say it. But I couldn’t see the forest for the N-word.

Bankrate: After the Michael Richards incident, you got a phone call from Jesse Jackson, asking you to meet with Michael. When you went into that meeting, what did you intend to say to him?

Paul Mooney: I intended to help him, because I knew what he was going through. I knew he freaked out. He had a breakdown. I know a breakdown when I see it. It wasn’t a performance. It was a complete nervous breakdown.

Bankrate: So you don’t think it has anything to do with his real attitude toward …

Paul Mooney: No. No. There are a lot of Michael Richards out there. A lot of Americans have that in them. They saw that monster, and they didn’t like it.

Bankrate: What kind of reactions have you had from people since you announced your decision to stop using the N-word?

Paul Mooney: When I was using it, I was called a racist, which is ridiculous. I was called a communist, a demon. I used it; everyone else wants to use it, so make your mind up. So far, I’ve received negative and positive reactions. Some people worship me for it, others call me sellout. It’s very funny.

Bankrate: And so many people say that by using the word or respelling it, that black people have reclaimed it and removed its power. What are your thoughts on that argument?

Paul Mooney: I used to be into that, but I’m not anymore. I divorced the word. I want to live in a world where there is no N-word. How about that?

Bankrate: There seems to be a big generational difference in the black community. People in their 20s and 30s haven’t always been through what a lot of older black folks have been through.

Paul Mooney: They don’t understand. They have no clue.

At least, Dave Chappelle got a clue. Chapelle pulled up short using The N Word some months before Michael Richards cracked up in November 2006.

The comedian even had a segment on his THE DAVE CHAPPELLE SHOW about an all-white family, called the Niggars – but he admits the word is being misused and he’s part of the problem.

Chappelle says, “That word can still start a fight… I still say it in personal conversation with my friends, I say it sometimes on stage at the comedy club and I’m not gonna make a promise that I won’t say it again on television but right now I just feel like people aren’t responsible enough.

“There are certain things I’ve been through in the last year and there’s certain things I’ve heard people say and also all of the older black women in my family… they really get on to me about it.”

[…] Chappelle argued that he can use “ugly words” because people know his intentions are good, while Angelou maintained the word was dehumanizing. Still, Chappelle remained deferential throughout, telling Angelou, “I know you’re going to crush me in a minute.”

In researching this piece, I read from white fans of Chappelle who had enjoyed immensely how Chappelle used The N Word on his show and how it had supposedly “liberated” them from holding back in describing and labelling blacks. Add a wingnut or right-wing point-of-view to this mix, and it rates with the toxic atmosphere around race in the middle of the last century.

I’m sure I can’t keep people from feeling what they do. But that’s why there are Old School things like dialogue and social discourse that break down barriers to understanding. And how you learn to respect other people as individuals beyond stereotypes, discomfort, and racial epithets through your parents, your schools, your religion, and others. At least, being Old School, that’s how I was trained and socialized. These days, that kind of thing has flown out the window.

When it comes to The N-Word, it pays to remember an old saying in our community that you shouldn’t say anything that you’re not able to back up with your dukes. That’s why Howard Stern thinks Laura Schlessinger, a woman who previously tried to abridge his First Amendment rights, is a coward. From Electronic Urban Report (EUR):

Ironically, Dr. Laura was accused of trying to snatch away Stern’s first amendment rights more than 10 years ago.

As part of a proposed deal to launch a talk show with CBS in 1999, Laura demanded that the studio forbid Stern from insulting her on his radio show, which was owned by CBS at the time.

When CBS refused to muzzle Stern, Dr. Laura backed out of the deal and ran to Paramount.

One Response to “In Case You Still Don’t Get It: A Word From Richard Pryor and Paul Mooney on The N Word”

I am so happy that the ugly (inside and out) crazy old gym teacher reaped what she had sowed. She could have gotten her argument across by saying “N word” and not using the word and by not saying “don’t NAACP me” but like Michael Richards AKA “Cosmo Kramer”,she ends up the the trash heap of history, a history of her own making. I am so happy that the free market AKA sponsors started to pull their ads (I guess they were exercising their free speach) and she finally realized that she was just another “run of the mill gabby” and her days were numbered. She realized that she was not as smart as she thought she was, finally!

Palin was the one who got bent over the use of the word “Retard”, Palin also said that the people have the right to build the Mosque in NY, but out of respect for the 9/11 families they shouldn’t, but I guess this same standard is not applicable to Laura Schlessinger. Do you see the hypocrisy? The problem with Palin is the same when she mistakenly referred to Ronald Reagan Eureka College, being in California and we all know its in Illinois, same thing, she does not fact check anything she is going to say. She is soooo Palin!

Senior NHS figures warn Boris Johnson to plan for second wave; infection rate could be increasing in some areas, including north-west EnglandPrime minister told to dump rhetoric and plan for new Covid waveSenior clinicians fear UK has no plan for second waveBlack Lives Matter protests risk spreading Covid-19, says HancockCovid-19 in the Commons: ‘How can you […]

Scientists say injection of cloned antibodies could help treat people already infected, while vaccine development continuesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists working on coronavirus treatments may be close to a breakthrough on an antibody treatment that could save the lives of people who become infected, it has been reporte […]

Toll could hit 34,000 among country’s most vulnerable residents by end of June, estimates expert study Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCare home residents are on course to make up more than half the deaths caused directly or indirectly by the coronavirus crisis in England, according to a new analysis.The study warns that the death […]

Father of six-year-old who vanished in Portugal in 1996 hopes to finally learn what happened to his sonThe father of a six-year-old German boy who disappeared on holiday in Portugal nearly 24 years ago says the recent dramatic developments in the Madeleine McCann case have given him hope he will finally learn what happened to his son.Andreas Hasee said a Ger […]

Leaked letter instructs ministers to have ‘no specific policy’ on the issueDowning Street has been accused of reopening the door to imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef, after a leaked memo instructed ministers to have “no specific policy” on animal welfare in US trade talks.The letter from No 10 states that the ministerial mandate for the […]

After ‘appalling scenes’ in US and Hong Kong, the shadow foreign secretary attacks UK policy for putting growth and trade ahead of human rightsBritain is “absenting itself from the world stage” by refusing to show leadership over Hong Kong residents, confront China or condemn President Trump over his handling of the fallout from George Floyd’s killing, the s […]

With many leaders backing Black Lives Matter over George Floyd’s death, a former official leads criticism of ‘perilously archaic’ institution A former senior Church of England official has criticised the institution’s record on racism, while many of its bishops are publicly backing the Black Lives Matter movement. The Rev Arun Arora, a vicar in Durham and fo […]